Sticking With Manila

I’ve pretty much made up my mind to stick with Manila as I lumber toward this way-in-over-my-head project of converting our Web site. Here are my reasons why (if anyone has an interest):

I know it. Despite its lack of intuitiveness and its kind of strange labeling, I need only look as far as my students to see that it’s not really that hard once you get it set up. Yes, there is going to be some training involved, but I’m hoping that a good manual will be able to support most of the questions that will arise post training. (And where might that manual come from, you ask?)

Kern County. That site is proof that most of what I envision is doable, albeit with some serious understanding of how this all works. I know I don’t have (and probably never will have) the technical understanding required to produce a site like that. But just knowing it’s out there makes me feel a lot better.

Winer and Harvard. Unless his little experiment is a total bust, and I think he’s too smart to let that happen, Manila will be undergoing some serious development moving forward. Dave’s already has started experiencing some of the major frustrations we’ve all been talking about. If he wants scale, he’s gonna have to work. (And as Joe points out, the pressure is mounting.)

eBN. Even though I know there is a growing sub-culture of MT users, there are also quite a few Manila and Radio users who have offered immense amounts of support. Manila may not end up being the tool of choice among edubloggers, but for right now, it’s where most of us are.

I’m tired of thinking about it. While MT is intruiging, and I’m still going to learn it, it’s just too much to consider right now to switch everything over. I need to get focused. Manila is a very good solution. I’m satisfied.

But there still is a lot to learn…
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